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Early Childhood Education

Tiffany Boehm
Director of Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Springfield Public Schools 
973-376-1025 Ext. 6012
tboehm@springfieldschools.com

 

Thank you for your interest in the Springfield Public School’s Early Childhood Department! As part of the district’s vision of cultivating compassionate and extraordinary learners, it all begins here in Preschool! 

Please see the Preschool Registration page for instructions on registering any new preschool student who will be entering Springfield Public Schools beginning in September.

Springfield Public Schools provides a comprehensive preschool program designed to foster the whole child and ensure kindergarten readiness.

Program Goal

To provide a secure, stimulating, and play-based learning environment that promotes development across all domains (social-emotional, cognitive, language, and physical) to prepare children for successful transition into kindergarten.

Foundational Approach: Learning Through Play

The curriculum is driven by the principle that play is a child's work. Teachers act as facilitators, designing intentional learning spaces and guided activities that allow children to explore, create, and problem-solve.

Core Developmental Domains

The curriculum addresses the following key areas for children ages 3 to 5:

Domain

Key Focus Areas

Readiness Outcomes

Social-Emotional Development

Self-regulation, cooperation, sharing, empathy, and developing a sense of self and others.

Ability to follow classroom rules, manage feelings, and negotiate conflicts with peers.

Language and Literacy

Oral language, vocabulary expansion, phonological awareness (rhyming, sounds), letter knowledge (names and sounds), and print awareness.

Recognizing name, identifying some letters/sounds, following multi-step directions, and expressing needs clearly.

Cognitive and Mathematics

Thinking skills, problem-solving, counting, number recognition, one-to-one correspondence, sorting, classifying, and simple geometric shapes.

Counting small sets of objects, recognizing basic shapes, and understanding simple patterns.

Physical Development

Gross motor skills (running, jumping, balancing) and fine motor skills (pincer grip, cutting, drawing, buttoning).

Coordinating large movements on the playground and correctly holding a pencil or crayon.

 

Daily Structure Highlights

The daily schedule is balanced, incorporating both child-initiated and teacher-led activities:

  • Large Group/Circle Time: Focused instruction for literacy, music, and calendar/math concepts.
  • Choice Time/Center Time: Extended period for children to choose their activities in interest areas (blocks, dramatic play, library, art, science) to promote independence and peer interaction.
  • Read Alouds: Intentional reading of rich literature to build vocabulary and comprehension.
  • Outdoor/Gross Motor Play: Essential time for physical exercise and large muscle development.

Family Partnership

Parents are viewed as a child’s first and most important teacher. The program uses methods like daily communication logs and formal assessment reports (e.g., using Teaching Strategies GOLD) to provide regular updates on a child's progress and to align learning goals between home and school.